Feb-06: Egypt Mtn 210

It's not how much gear you have with you;

It's whether or not you have the piece of gear that you need.

Bob and I set out upon our most frequent go-to Permanent:
"Warrenton and Egypt Mtn," a 210-km trip.


We started at 0600, which meant 40 or 45 minutes riding in the dark,
But also that meant getting away from north Raleigh before most of the morning traffic.
And might mean finishing comfortably in daylight at the end of the ride.

It was an unusually warm day for early February.
The temperature at 0600 was in the lower 60s.
The high temp, middle 70's, slightly lower the further north one was, at about 10 am.
Thereafter, the temperature slowly, ever so slowly declined, being mid-60's when we finished.

Accompanying those unusually warm temperatures,
There was a stiff SW or SSW wind, 10 to 20 mph, all day.
Well, once the wind "woke up" after around 9 am.
Mostly a tailwind outbound.
A stiff headwind for most of the second half of the ride. 

Just as we reached the turn off Tower Rd onto Jones Chapel Rd, 74.7-miles into the ride,
Bob was suddenly looking down at his cassette, or so it seemed to me.
Turned out he was looking at his rear wheel because it was going soft on him.
We pulled over at / after the turn, and Bob began to investigate the problem.
[I tried to use a google-street-view here, but the yellow-man has not been to that corner.] 

Turned out that the problem was that his rim tape has slipped inside the rim,
Or deteriorated to the point of no longer being useful for protecting the inside of the tube.
Who carries spare rim tape?
Not Bob.
Not me.
This could get "interesting."

Suddenly, I realized that I had a roll of black electrical tape with me.
Voila, acceptable rim tape substitute.
I watched in awe as Bob quickly strung the electrical tape in place as if rim tape.
We were soon on our way on Jones Chapel Rd and the rest of the course.

I was thinking that this was also the ride where my rear tyre developed a problem
At about the 103-mile mark.
But upon reflection and investigation,
That flat tyre experience was on the Sep-06-2018 Egypt Mtn ride.
LOL.
I can no longer keep straight what happened when.

[I should share this with Dean #4070.
He could remember incidents, but couldn't remember when or who was with him.
And sometimes he couldn't recall onn which route an incident occurred.
Riding the Tar Heel 200 fifty-two times will do that.
Riding Lookin' Out My Back Door fifty-two times will do that.
And, most especially, riding Get 'er Dunn 314 times will do that.]

This made the 34th time I successfully completed the Egypt Mtn route.
I have one DNF on the Egypt Mtn course -- Aug-02-2014 -- apparently I never blogged that ride.

A cold downpour hit Lynn and me just before we got to Bobbitt, 89.5-mile mark. 
We sheltered at the Bobbitt store for about an hour. 
The temperature dropped considerably. 
Lynn did not want to continue. 
Lt. Dave, whom we talked into coming to rescue us, told us it was good we chose to DNF. 
He had encountered many flooded roads getting to us. 

I recall that in the Summer 2014, we had to use a detour. 
The "pipe-stem" connecting bridge was undergoing re-construction. 
So Bobbitt was actually at the 93.4-mile mark that day. 

Modified route that day:   

 

This made the 13th time that Bob successfully completed the Egypt Mtn route.
Flat tyre.  Unlucky 13th time?
I don't believe in that.
I'm pretty sure Bob also does not believe in that.
Oh, btw, this made R-110 for Bob.

--------------------------------------------------------------
The headwind on the return slowed our in-motion pace.
Me being out of shape, of course I was out of shape, slowed our in-motion pace.
And the extra time dealing with Bob's flat tyre slowed our elapsed time.

--> Egypt Mtn 210 ; 136.5-miles; 10h43 in-motion; 12.7 mph; EM rando elapsed time:  12h39

Permanent Route Name / #	Distance	Date	Finishers	DNF
NC: Warrenton & Egypt Mountain / 1444	210	2019/02/06	2	0

Cert#	RUSA#	Name	Club / ACP Code	Time
RUSA-T87538	5843	B__, Bob	Randonneurs USA / 933095	12:39
RUSA-T87539	6218	S__, Martin	Randonneurs USA / 933095	12:39